Automatic weapons fire, single-shot weapons fire, grenades, shattering glass, and a high-pitched "pew" that I don't quite get permeate this track. In fact, that's pretty much all the track is. It really does sound like you're on the streets during a firefight in an action movie. Cue this up in your superhero, Delta Green, or modern military game when everything dissolves into an all-out gun battle. I gave this four stars instead of five out of concerns for its practicality; you'll need to keep the volume fairly low or this track will be very, very distracting at the table.

This track sounds like just what you might hear in a film while characters are scuba diving or even an exterior shot of a submarine: water and bubbles, along with occasional sounds that resemble the "ping" of a movie submarine's sonar. Very simple and very effective, useful in multiple genres: fantasy, sci-fi, modern military, and superhero being the most obvious.

This track is absolutely straightforward: the sound of waves lapping up on the beach, with some sea birds calling out now and again. That's all there is, and that's all you need to evoke the sense of being on a seashore. It does seem to be a lonely seashore; there are no ship bells or foghorns or anything like that to suggest a lighthouse, port, or even sunbathers.

This alien world is teeming with wildlife, so I assume the PCs are out in a wilderness area of some sort. The strange animal noises convey a sense of alienness, and occasional musical tones make the whole thing seem a bit eerie. You could probably even use this for a warped terrestrial jungle of some kind.

Haunting winds carry along the chirping of rather earth-like birds throughout the bulk of this track. Occasional "electric" swells and other tones add to the ambience. Although hampered slightly by the familiarity of the birdsongs, the track does a good job of evoking a mysterious alien setting.

Whether you need an oceanside cave for a pirate hideout, a mysterious cult, a sahuagin beachhead, or some other purpose, this map pack can help you out—as long as you don't need an extensive cave complex directly connected to the cave. There's plenty of ocean here for your skiff to be beset by aquatic ghouls or some such while others fight on land. There are a fairly limited range of situations in which this pack would be useful, but when you need it, it will look great on the table.

More so than the 1e Deities and Demigods or the 2e Legends and Lore, the 3e Deities and Demigods serves as a worldbuilding—or rather cosmos-building—resource for DMs. The first two chapters are broadly applicable to any D&D campaign, regardless of the setting or pantheon in use. Also unlike the 1e and 2e incarnations, the 3e Deities and Demigods includes substantial attention to the "D&D Pantheon," shared in part by the Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms settings. Even though the mechanics are specific to 3e, the first chapter is useful reading for any GM, any system.

This is a great collection of DC characters statted out using the Mutants & Masterminds 3rd edition rules. More than just stats, each entry includes encyclopedic-style "biographical" information, with attention given to different people bearing the same name (like the three different Blue Beetles). Practically the only downside to this product is that it was somewhat out-of-date by the time it was published, and therefore it does not reflect the New 52 continuity.

Once in a while, every DM needs to depict a giant horrible monster rising out of the sea during a thunderstorm, right? Use this track to score those scenes. The product description tells you what you'll hear in the track; it all comes together into a wonderfully raucous package. The title suggests Cthulhu rising from the South Pacific, but the monster roaring in this track could just as easily be Godzilla, Leviathan, a kraken, an ancient aquatic dragon, or whatever else your GMing mind can cook up.

Honestly, this track puts me more in mind of Call/Trail of Cthulhu investigators combing through a decrepit insane asylum, or Batman prowling the halls of Arkham, than of fantasy heroes in a dungeon. The entire track is suffused with a "crackle" that makes me think of a vinyl record spinning on an old gramophone. The track also features light instrumentation and mysterious sound effects that I can't quite place. Occasionally you'll hear water dripping, and a swell of sound, not quite a Doppler effect but it makes me think of a car or train swooshing by. I really think this track is more at home in modern horror than high fantasy. In the right situation, it could be very evocative.

This track evokes a cemetery atmosphere chiefly through the sounds of digging (by grave robbers? necromancers? mortuary staff?) and heavy breathing (by tired workers? recently-raised undead?). The bird cries sound more like daytime sounds (at least for the crows that love to roost in our sycamore tree)—not entirely consistent, to my ears, with the constant chirping of crickets. Hooting owls would have been better. But overall the track is quite effective. In fact, I had to pop in my earbuds to listen because my dog kept trying to answer the dogs he heard barking in the track. True story.

Take a low drone resembling the sound of a door desperately in need of WD-40 being opened very, very slowly, add heavy, shuffling footfalls, and you've got the basics of this track. These monotonous noises are occasionally punctuated by groans, growls, and screams. Admittedly I'm not that interested in zombie stuff anyway, but this track does very little for me. I can see (well, hear) how it would work in the right setting, but I just don't like it very much (and I normally find Gil's soundscapes very enjoyable).

I don't quite know what's "hidden" in this track, unless it's the uncanny resemblance to the theme from "The Exorcist." But the track does a good job of evoking a sense of mystery, melancholy, and perhaps subdued menace. I could easily imagine using this in-game when the PCs are investigating any kind of "dungeon"—from the mines of Moria to a haunted mansion—where the emphasis is on exploring and a mounting sense of dread rather than combat.

To break down the title, the sense of a forest is achieved in this track primarily by the sounds of chirping birds; some rustling of foliage would probably enhance the atmosphere. The sense of elvishness is achieved primarily by some ethereal music, sounding as if wind chimes could hold out their notes. The entire effect is very pleasing, although if you play the track too loud, the "wind chimes" may begin to sound shrill, so keep the volume low.

Creative and well-conceived, this tile set gives you a printable map of an oceanside sacrificial pool embedded in a larger complex. In general, it makes a great scene for a big confrontation, and the introductory text even suggests a possible adventure hook. DramaScape provides square overlay, hex overlay, and no overlay maps for printing—which is great, but really should have been handled with PDF layers instead of three versions of each tile. You also get one large map for VTT use. The coloration of the scene brings coral to mind, which is good for a seaside facility like this, but the textures seem overdone and the edges between features would be more helpful if they were a bit more distinct. Even so, it's a unique and useful product. Do be sure that your printer has at least a full 8x10 printable area, however, or you'll lose some of each tile.